Vienna, September 15, 1936.

Dear Dunn: '

We have been having an influx of royal v i s i t s in Austria as a par t of the extraordinary t o u r i s t t r a f f i c to the country, which has been the heaviest since the war. In August a lone, 31 mil l ion s c h i l ­l ings l a foreign exchange came to the National Bank from t h i s t o u r i s t t r a f f i c . The King of. Belgium i s , I understand, s t i l l In the Tyrol in ­cognito and intends to stay in a l l three weeks. The King of Spain i s staying at the Wttrthersee, but i s using i t as a base for various v i s i t s , the purpose of some of whioh i s leading to a good deal of speculat ion. I s informed quar ters he i s gene­r a l l y considered as having f a l l en p re t ty deeply from his former high e s t a t e , and he seems to be mixed up in the arms t r a f f i o not only with Spain, out other quar ters as wel l , I have kept the Depart­ment Informed about the llaizlip plane, and there i s not any question tha t I t was or ig ina l ly leased by him for t h i s f l igh t to Czechoslovakia and Austr ia. Prince r au l of Yugoslavia and the Duke of Kent have been in Austria recent ly , and, as you Know, the I t a l i a n Crown Prince and h is wife spent some days in Salzburg. The Grossglookner Road over the alps i s quite an a t t r a c t i o n , not only for these royal v i s i t o r s but for i n t e r e s t i n g people from a l l over Europe, and together with the Salzburg Fest ivals has brought many people here who would not otherwise have come. I hope sons time you may be able to take the drive over the Crossglookner, f o r i t is most In t e re s t ing .

I am writing you p r inc ipa l ly today to give you some background about the v i s i t of the King of England, who l e f t on Sunday evening a f te r a week's stay a t the Br i s to l as the Earl of Chester, accom­panied only by a very small s u i t e . The King, an you know, had been to Yugoslavia, Turkey and Greece,

James Clement Dunn, Esquire, Department of S ta te ,

Washington, D. C.

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and while I think undoubtedly he wanted a holiday, there i s equally no doubt nut that h i s t r i p to those par t* had a very r ea l p o l i t i c a l s igni f icance . You are so well informed concerning tha t aspect of h is t r i p that I shal l make no .comment here, except to say that we see very real evidences of the favorable effect which i t had, and i t ce r ta in ly did contr ibute to the holding together of the L i t t l e Entente and Belkan Union and to giving a r ea l s ignif icance to the meeting of the L i t t l e Entente Ministers P r e s i ­dent which has Just closed at Brat is lava . The Germans, as you know, f e l t ce r t a in t ha t they had the contracts for the Dardanelles f o r t i f i c a t i ons in the i r pocket, but as a r e su l t of the King's v i s i t i t i s a t l a s t ce r t a in t ha t the cont rac ts are not going to Krupps and to the Germans; they are going e i the r to the Skoda Works in Czechoslovakia or t o England, and the p robab i l i t i e s are tha t the English wil l get a good share in sp i t e of the B r i t i s h bids being higher than those of the Skoda.

I do not think that the King's stay in Austria, was intended primari ly to have any p o l i t i c a l s i g n i ­f icance, although, of course, i t cannot help but have p o l i t i c a l consequences. I t does emphasise the continued i n t e r e s t of England in Austr ia , even i f i t i s a somewhat more platonlo i n t e r e s t than the Austrians would l i k e to see. I t lias had i t s conse­quences in the country, for the way in which the King has picked out Vienna and Kitabiihel has been of tremendous help in s t imula t ing Austria as the mode for t o u r i s t s , and I think the Austrians are duly gra te fu l .

!the King made every effort to keep h i s v i s i t a p r iva te one, and i t i s r ea l ly to the c r ed i t of thes, Austrians tha t they have respected his wishes in a surpr i s ing degree. He had very few people with him here , and of course Mrs. Simpson. I think one of the reasons why he r ea l ly l i k e s Vienna is because Mrs. Simpson i s ^«rjf fond of i t here and he has the opportunity here to l i v e more as a pr iva te person than perhaps anywhere he could go. He usually has , as he did t h i s t ime, the whole f i r s t f loor of the Hew B r i s t o l . There i s usually a crowd of curious in front of the hotel to watch h i s comings and goings,

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but aside from that he is left entirely alone. He goes about the streets frequently aoeompanied only by Mrs. Simpson and a stalwart inspector from Seotland Yard. The crowds, si though they recognize him, for some reason respect his incognito. It is really quite unusual that he should be able to do this so effectively and with so little molestation or demonstration, especially as there is certainly a real interest of the people here in him. The Austrians seems to have learned that fine art of minding their own business in some things.

During the week that the King was here he paid a visit to the President at the Ballhausplats, and the King went to the British Legation to receive his return visit, which was short. The visit of the King to the President, however, was quits long, and as he talks good German, it seems that they chatted in a most friendly fashion about all sorts of things for over an hour. The conversation had no real political significance, but the King did tell the President how much he approved of ths Aus­trian policy of maintaining an independent attitude in internal and external polioy. The only other official occasion was the call which the Chancellor mads on the King, which was also at the British Legation. At the request of the King, the British Minister asked only the Chancellor and some twenty officials of the Austrian Government, who came to a little tea-party, and aside from ths staff of ths Legation, no one else was there. The King re­mained there for two hours chatting with everyone in a most informal fashion, that greatly delighted the Austrians, if it somewhat surprised them, as the Austrians are quite accustomed, as you know, to official formality.

He played golf one afternoon with the British Minister and went shooting another day with the Minister. He visited several museums in Vienna which he knows well, and he seems to take pleasure in going back to these places he knows. He went to the Opera twice while he was here this time, I think largely because Flags tad was singing. The rest of the time he spent in going about the oity

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the "Drei Husaren*, which was s t a r t e d by Count Palffy, who la the divorced husband of Dorothy Deacon, who s t i l l makes her heme hero i a Vienna. After dinner at a res taurant ho generally went to too or three of the Vienna n ight -c lubs , which are known here as ba r s , and which are a l l small , intimate places . I t i a rea l ly in t e res t ing that while i t i a true tha t these clubs wero probably b e t t e r frequented while the King was here by those who hoped ho might v i s i t these olubs, i f he did appear at one he was l e t en t i r e ly alone, and the only way in which hi a iden t i ty was recognized was when he l e f t . I am told that khan he l e f t these bars tho people generally got up for a moment as he was leaving.

I t fa very i n t e r e s t i ng that there has not been any of the gossip about drinking, e t c . , while he has been hero, and there i s not any question but tha t he conducted himaolf in a very cor rec t , if informal, manner. Ho behaved ^ust as any other englishman would hero on a holiday. That h i s attachment to Vienna and to the l i f e here ia r ea l i s quite c e r t a in , and the Br i t i sh Minis ter , who was i a to see me yesterday, t e l l s me tha t tho King l e f t Vienna as del ighted and as happy as he has over seen him.

As I have already sa id , the King had no special objective except h i s own des i res and those of Mrs. oimpson in making this v i s i t to Vienna. That i t has had a good effect here io na tu ra l and inev i t ab le . I have only given you thia int imate de t a i l with regard to the v i a i t as I thought you would bo in teroa tod , and as i t i s quite c lear t ha t no p o l i t i c a l objective was aimed at* Certainly the conversations which he had with tho Chancellor and the Pres ident , while pleasant and cordia l and while p o l i t i c a l things were touched upon, had no d i r ec t objec t ive .

There ia jus t one l i t t l e phase of tho v i a i t which I think wi l l I n t e r e s t you. A friend of Bine from London and who ia also a friend of the King's was here during the King's v i a i t , and he expressed himself with a good deal of heat over the King's v i s i t s t o the Opera. He said tha t in London they had t r i e d to get hia to the opera on variouo occasions and had not been able to do i t , and he could not qui te understand why ho ohould go t o the

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opera twice in one week ia Tienna. X tried to tell him that I thought he must aee the natural explana­tion in the fact that the King was on a holiday.

With all good wiahea,

Jordially your a,

George S. ̂ easersmith

GSM/lGW